Improving Physician Communication with Patients

Adrienne Boissy, Experience Officer, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Calvin Chou, Professor of Medicine, Academy Chair for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, UCSF, VA Medical Center SF, American Academy on Communication in Healthcare

As medical centers take steps to improve patient care experiences they are still challenged to convince physicians of the importance of patient experiences. The Cleveland Clinic and the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare developed a communication skills program to improve skills that address enhanced patient experience, improved physician well-being and improved quality of care. Participants clearly value this training and individual patient experience scores for participants have increased. We will present the educational rationale for the training, describe perspectives and experiences of physician trainees and offer suggestions for achieving physician buy-in and establishing communication skills programs for physicians.